Critical Regional or State Water Problems: Area of Relevant Research- Agricultural
NPS pollution was identified as the major threat to the Nation's water quality
in the 1992 Clean Water Act Amendment. Many efforts have been initialized
to reduce the agricultural NPS pollution; however, EPA still reported NPS
as the primary source for impaired streams and lakes. The Michigan Department
of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) identified hundreds of watersheds that had
NPS pollution problems in early 1998. These watersheds will need a "watershed
performance based plan" not only to address NPS pollution problems but also
to implement solutions that will optimally reduce the NPS pollution. The research
will address both environmental and economic issues in NPS pollution management.

Results or benefits: With EPA's emphasis on watershed and total maximum daily
loading (TMDL), watershed planners critically need a systematic economic/environmental
watershed NPS pollution optimization approach. The selected study area is
the Stony Creek watershed, which is one of the NPS problem (303d) watersheds
identified by the MDEQ. The watershed covers 115,000 acres of land and approximately
85% of the watershed is agriculture. The final research result is a user-friendly
performance based NPS watershed management system for the Stony Creek watershed.
This NPS watershed management-planning tool can serve as the guidance or strategy
for the watershed communities to meet both environmental and economic goals
in the NPS pollution management. However, several intermittent outcomes can
also be expected. First, the methodology itself will demonstrate a solid scientific-based
approach for NPS pollution management. Secondly, the investigation of the
cost-effectiveness of alternative Best Management Practices (BMP's) can generate
knowledge to help facilitate scenario analysis for NPS pollution management
assessment. Finally, the watershed experience can be applied to other watersheds
that have NPS pollution problems. We have developed and applied several components
for the NPS pollution management and planning tool, including web-based Revised
Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and buffer strip design using Geographic
Information System (GIS).